Tag Archives: College of Business

There should have been no doubt that Nikki Brown’s career would revolve around business. Her childhood was marked by one clever business venture after another. From lemonade stands to selling lottery tickets (seriously), she was a one-kid start-up machine. Now she is an expert on marketing and consumer behavior who teaches courses online for Oregon State Ecampus on those very topics.

Oregon State University and Peet’s Coffee today announced the Peetnik Pathway to College Program, a tuition reimbursement plan that gives thousands of the specialty coffee company’s employees access to OSU’s top-ranked online education. The program opens the door to potential life-changing career advancement possibilities for many of the 5,000 Peet’s Coffee workers nationwide – known as Peetniks – who wish to earn a bachelor’s degree.

Beginning this summer, OSU’s College of Business and OSU Summer Session are teaming up to offer OSU students the chance to earn a business and entrepreneurship minor in just two summers on campus in Corvallis and online.

Ecampus business administration student Todd Van Hess says what he’s learning in class is already making him a better employee – and in turn, a better prospective leader in the future. “I learn something new every term. I thought I knew all of the answers, but the course work definitely sheds a lot of light on some of the bigger picture items.”

A state of Oregon IT procurement worker and devoted dad cracks his laptop to study business administration during dance and swim practices and cultivates a more nuanced view of the technologies he encounters daily. Such scenarios are increasingly typical for the many Oregonians who work full time while pursuing degrees online — and Oregon State University Ecampus is meeting the needs and preferences of adult learners by tailoring programs to the lifestyle of these working professionals.

In December 2014, Eric Vela was hired by Oregon Health Sciences University to help lead a $28 million vaccine program that aims to eliminate HIV from humans. Even though he had 16 years of experience in infectious disease research, Eric needed to enhance his skills as a leader and project manager. So he turned to Oregon State to pursue an MBA in Organizational Leadership, a program that combines online course work with in-person classes in Portland.

“My initial appointment with students is always by phone or video. The first half of that appointment is all about getting to know the student – why they chose OSU, why business, and most importantly, what are the expectations of this degree. That helps me to understand how I may best serve that student,” says business academic advisor Lindsay Andrews.

Yuriy Mikitchenko didn’t want to put his promising career on hold in order to pursue his MBA, and Oregon State University made it so that he didn’t have to. OSU’s MBA in Organizational Leadership is a hybrid program that is designed for working professionals, combining the flexibility of online learning with valuable face-to-face, evening classes in Portland

Kathleen Garney is an operations manager at Boeing, and a desire to improve her career prospects at the Fortune 500 company compelled her to pursue an MBA in Executive Leadership online and in-person with Oregon State. “My career wasn’t stalled, but I wanted to turbocharge it,” she says. Read why Kathleen says the hybrid program complements the professional world.